LA Politician was Corrupt

The storm’s path then took it to Canada, where it became the costliest extreme weather event ever in Atlantic Canada, according to WMO. All told, the storm was responsible for 29 deaths.

A few weeks later, in October, Hurricane Ian struck both Cuba and Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. More than 100 people were killed in Florida, making the storm the third-deadliest to hit the U.S. mainland and, according to the WMO, the costliest in Florida’s history.

Officials have confirmed that they have started the process of notifying the victims' families.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said it’s a “tough and tragic day” for Kentucky, Fort Campbell, and the 101st Airborne Division.

He added, “We are blessed to live in the freest country on Planet Earth, but must remember that freedom relies on those willing to serve.”

An HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter can reach a maximum speed of 223 miles per hour and can carry between eight to 12 troops.

Former Democratic City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, a longtime Los Angeles politician, was convicted on Thursday on federal corruption charges. Prosecutors said he promised to help steer a multimillion-dollar government contract to the University of Southern California if his son got a scholarship and a teaching job at the college.

He was found guilty of seven felonies, including conspiracy, bribery and fraud.

Ridley-Thomas was a former legislator and county supervisor and had been involved in politics for many decades.

Marilyn Flynn, who was dean of USC’s School of Social Work from 1997 to 2018, pleaded guilty last year to one count of bribery in the case. Prosecutors said that as part of the plot, she concocted a scheme to funnel $100,000 that RidleyThomas provided from campaign funds through the university to a nonprofit run by his son.

Mark Ridley-Thomas, then a county supervisor, offered to support county contracts for USC’s School of Social Work that could potentially bring the institution millions of dollars in new revenue in return for helping his son, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, according to prosecutors. At the time, the school had a multimil- lion-dollar budget deficit.

Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was a state assemblyman who resigned the last day of 2017 while facing allegations of inappropriate behavor. The $100,000 went to his organization, known as the Policy, Research & Practice Initiative, prosecutors said.

The son later received a $26,000 graduate scholarship for 2018 and was offered a paid teaching position with a $50,000 salary, even though being a student and a teacher would violate school policy, authorities said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a longtime friend and political ally, called the verdict a “sad day for Los Angeles.” were searching for a slower pace of life.

Now, according to new data, that trend is slowing, as big cities lost fewer residents last year with help from more immigrants moving in and fewer people dying.

Big Cities Losing Less People

During the pandemic, hoards of people left the big cities as they wanted to live unencumbered by pandemic rules and

The suburbs of big cities and small and medium-size metropolitan areas continued to claim most of the country’s growth, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of population estimates released on Thursday for the year that ended June 30. Rural areas and small towns collectively remained nearly flat.

The New York metro area, the nation’s most populated, saw its population decline 0.8% in the most recent year’s data. The second- and third-biggest metro areas, Los Angeles and Chicago, saw similar percentage declines.

While suburbs grew collectively, some suburban counties in the biggest areas shrank, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Ten of the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas lost population during the one-year period. The gainers were all in the South or West, with the exception of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which recorded a small gain after losing residents the year before.

Collectively, the populations of suburban counties and small and midsize cities increased 0.7% during the year. The search for more affordable housing is attracting many to these areas.

New York City’s population has fallen more than 400,000 in the most recent two years, to 8.34 million, even as Manhattan swung from a 99,000 loss the first year of the pandemic to a 17,000 gain in the most recent year available.

Seven of the 10 fastest-growing metro areas are in Florida. The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida, saw the fastest pace at 7.5% and is now home to almost 145,000 people.

Arkansas Sues Social Media

The state of Arkansas has sued TikTok, its parent ByteDance, and Facebook-parent Meta over claims the companies’ products are harmful to users.

All three lawsuits claim the compa - nies have violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seek millions in potential fines.

The complaints come amid mounting pressure in Washington on TikTok for its ties to China and as states have grown more aggressive in suing tech companies broadly, particularly on mental health claims. Suits by school districts or county officials in California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington state have targeted multiple social media platforms over addiction allegations.

The suit against Meta particularly zeroes in on the company’s impact to young users’ mental health, alleging that Meta’s implementation of like buttons, photo tagging, an unending news feed and other features are addictive and “intended to manipulate users’ brains by triggering the release of dopamine.”

The other suits, both naming ByteDance and TikTok as defendants, target TikTok’s alleged shortcomings in content moderation and also reiterate claims about TikTok’s alleged threat to U.S. national security.

The first suit alleges that TikTok has misled users by identifying its app as suitable for teens on app stores because of the “abundant” presence of content showing profanity, substance use, and other inappropriate content. The suit further alleges that TikTok’s Chinese sister app, Douyin, does not make such content available within China.

“TikTok poses known risks to young teens that TikTok’s parent company itself finds inappropriate for Chinese users who are the same age,” the complaint said. “Yet TikTok pushes salacious and other mature content to all young U.S. users age 13 and up.”

In a statement announcing the lawsuits, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the suits reflect a “failed status quo.”

“We have to hold Big Tech companies accountable for pushing addictive platforms on our kids and exposing them to a world of inappropriate, damaging content,” Sanders said. “These actions are a long time coming. We have watched over the past decade as one social media company after another has exploited our kids for profit and escaped government oversight.”

A Terrible Trio

Last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers that China, Russia, and Iran would be a problem for the U.S. “for many years to come” as the three are working more closely together.

Services Committee alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Milley noted that Russia and China are “getting closer together.”

“I wouldn’t call it a true full alliance in the real meaning of that word, but we are seeing them moving closer together, and that’s troublesome,” Milley said. “And then … Iran is the third. So those three countries together are going to be problematic for many years to come I think, especially Russia and

China because of their capability.”

The U.S. continues to help fund Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, which Milley asserts is “in and of itself is a war crime.” Tensions with China rose recently following a suspected Chinese spy balloon’s travel over the continental U.S. It was ultimately shot down by the U.S. military off the eastern coast of the country.

Iran has also been keeping the U.S. busy. A week or so ago, the Unit - ed States launched retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria, after a suspected Iranian drone struck a facility housing U.S. personnel, killing an American contractor and injuring five service members.

There’s also a fear of a nuclear threat from Tehran. Milley warned during a hearing on Tuesday that Iran could “produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon in less than two weeks,” and ultimately create a nuclear weapon within “several months thereafter.”

“The United States military has developed multiple options for our national leadership to consider if or when Iran decides to develop a nuclear weapon,” he said.

But he added on Wednesday that China and Russia specifically have “the means to threaten our interests and our way of life” and mark the first time that the United States is “facing two major nuclear powers.”